next up previous Back to Operating Systems Home Page
Next: Notes on VM Up: 1998 term messages Previous: 1998 term messages

Preparation for the final exam - list of topics covered

Hello:

the short take on the subject is that the final exam
questions may deal with every subject covered in the
course from day one to tomorrow afternoon inclusive.
However, the emphasis is on the subjects covered in
the second part of the course, i.e. after the spring
break (but don't count 100% on that).


The long take, referring in part to the textbook, is as follows:

Memory management:
        Dynamic memory allocation: 
           ch 10, sections 5, 6

        Virtual memory, 
           ch 11, sections 1, 2 (whole), 6 (briefly), 7, 8, 9
           ch 12, sections 7 (whole), 1, 2, 4 (briefly).

Networking:
        Sections "Networking I" and "Networking II" of my
        lecture notes (available on the class web page), including
        the address resolution problem, characterization of client/server
        applications, etc.
        
        BSD socket system calls: socket(2), bind(2), accept(2), connect(2),
        their usage for implementing stream/datagram connections over the 
        internet, the mechanisms involved in establishing connections 
        (port binding, listening ports, temporary ports, etc).

Scheduling:
        Section "Scheduling-I" of the lecture notes
        ch 8, sections 1,2

        Handouts and material covered in the lectures and in
        the tutorials concerining Linux scheduling policies.

        Multiprocessor scheduling: all material covered in the lectures
        concerning processor coupling (independent, coarse-grained, etc),
        Thread scheduling (load sharing, gang scheduling).

        Real-time scheduling: topics covered in class concerning the
        main characteristics of a real-time scheduler.

Deadlocks:
        Reusable and consumable resoources. Deadlock definition, detection,
        prevention, avoidance (process initiation denial, resource allocation
        denial, *banker's algorithm*.

        The treatment of deadlocks in class has followed closely the one in
        chapter 6 of Tanenbaum's ``Modern Operating Systems''. Consult it for
        reference material other than what has been explained in the lectures.
        
Concurrency/Interprocess communication:
        Ch 7, sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.
        Ch 8, sections 16.
        See also the "Synopsis on concurrency" in the www lecture notes
        
Process description and control:
        Material in the lecture notes.
        Ch 3, whole
        Ch 5, sections 3, 4, 5, 6.
        Notes on UNIX basic i/o programming.


Good Luck
Franco


\ Franco Callari